481. Comma in numbers. In ordinary numbers of four or more figures the comma is usually inserted after the digits expressing thousands, millions, and so forth; but in numbers indicating dates, pages, lines of poetry, and library numbers, the comma is not used:

3,216; 24,213,216; in the year 1918; p. 2437; 1. 1132; No. 23187.

482. Etc. The abbreviation etc. (§ 417) is not permissible in literary style. When etc. (or &c.) is used (as in footnotes and other abbreviated matter), it should be set off from the rest of the matter by a comma or commas; this punctuation tends to prevent obscurity, and is particularly useful after a quotation (for example, 'That he was, etc., is a subordinate clause'). But when amperṣand (&) is used in the name of a firm, it is not set off by a comma (for example, 'Longmans, Green & Co.'; see § 466, 4, 4). (Exercise XLI, e, § 586.)

THE SEMICOLON

483. Phrases and dependent clauses. The semicolon denotes a longer pause than the comma. It is regularly used to group a series of phrases and dependent clauses which are of the same general kind, but which are less closely associated than those taking the comma:

1. To give an early preference to honor above gain, when they stand in competition; to despise every advantage which cannot be attained without dishonest arts; to brook no meanness, and stoop to no dissimulation, are the indications of a great mind, the presages of future eminence and usefulness in life.

2. He expresses a hope that the competition of other nations may drive us out of the field; that our foreign trade may decline; and that we may thus enjoy a restoration of national sanity and strength. MACAULAY.

484. Independent clauses. The semicolon is used to group a series of independent clauses (with or without connectives) which are parallel in thought and arrangement (§ 375). Study the following commas and semicolons :

1. The rain descended, and the floods came.

2. He goes early, and he returns late.

1. Wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared unto her. THE BIBLE.

2. Of the rural life of England he knew nothing; and he took it for granted that everybody who lived in the country was either stupid or miserable. MACAULAY.

3. The temperate man's pleasures are always durable, because they are regular; and all his life is calm and serene, because it is innocent.

- B.

4. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. - LINCOLN.

5. He turned his house into a place of refuge for a crowd of wretched old creatures who could find no other asylum; nor could all their peevishness and ingratitude weary out his benevolence. 6. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. - THE BIBLE.

C.

;

1. Truth ennobles man; learning adorns him. — B.

2. Never speak concerning what you are ignorant of; speak little of what you know; whether you speak or say not a word, do it with judgement.

3. They bought pictures of him [Byron]; they treasured up the smallest relics of him; they learned his poems by heart, and did their best to write like him, and to look like him. - MACAULAY. 4. Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. — LORD BACON. (Exercise XLI, ƒ, § 586.)

THE COLON

485. Colon. The colon was formerly used to mark the balance, or turning point, of the sentence. It informs the reader that the thought is not finished, and invites him onward with the promise that what he has just read will be explained, illustrated, or concluded in what follows. A knowledge of this use of the colon is essential in the reading of the older literature, such as Shakespeare and the Bible. (For the modern usage, see § 486.)

When, at the beginning of "Hamlet", Francisco is relieved from the watch, he answers,

"For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold,

And I am sick at heart."

The colon in this passage informs the reader that the clause before and after it are not independent, but related to each other; the thought ends with the period; what follows the colon explains what precedes it. To change the colon to the period, as has frequently been done in this and many other passages in Shakespeare (particularly in recent editions), not only breaks the connection, but alters, obscures, or destroys the meaning. It also changes what may be called the legato style of Shakespeare to the choppy, staccato style of modern English. Thought and punctuation go hand in hand, and neither can be disturbed without disturbing the other. In Shakespeare the original punctuation is not only grammatical, but rhetorical; thus it is an aid to the understanding of the text, and should be made a means of interpretation. We may all study the punctuation of the Bible, which is contemporary with that of Shakespeare and practically identical with it.

486. Modern use. The colon is now used chiefly as a means of introduction (see Examples 1-3); more rarely it is used (instead of the semicolon and a conjunction) to indicate

a following antithesis or explanation (see Examples 4-7; for the misuse of the colon after the salutation in letters, see

$$ 527, 542):

1. Please give me your opinion of the following sentence: "Dear Father, I am", etc. (Not 'What do you think of the following sentence? "Dear Father, I am”, etc.)

Ask yourself this question: What can I do without? (See this, thus, § 417.)

2. There are eight parts of speech. These are as follows: noun, pronoun, etc. (Not 'These are: noun, pronoun', etc.; use a complete sentence, or its equivalent, before the colon.)

3. A noun is the name of a person or thing: Alice, violet. 4. Man proposes: God disposes. (But, Man proposes; God disposes.)

but

5. Study to acquire a habit of thinking: no study is more important. — B. (But, 'of thinking; for no study', etc.)

6. In business there is something more than barter, exchange, price, payment: there is a sacred faith of man in man. - B.

7. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. THE BIBLE.

THE DASH

487. Slang in punctuation. With unthinking writers the dash has become what may be termed slang in punctuation. Such writers use it indifferently for almost any kind of stop; this robs the dash of its distinct meaning, and puzzles the reader. Carelessness and obscurity in writing indicate carelessness and obscurity in thinking.

Henry Beadnell, an English writer on punctuation, says, "The dash is frequently employed in a very capricious and arbitrary manner, as a substitute for all sorts of points, by writers whose thoughts, although, it may be, sometimes striking and profound, are thrown together without order or dependence; also by some others, who think that they thereby

give emphasis and prominence to expressions which in themselves are very commonplace, and would, without this fictitious assistance, escape the observation of the reader, or be deemed by him hardly worthy of notice."

'It [Beadnell's comment on the dash] is all only too true; these are the realms of Chaos, and the lord of them is Sterne, from whom modern writers of the purely literary kind have so many of their characteristics. . . . The modern newspaper writer who overdoes the use of dashes is seldom as incorrect as Sterne, but is perhaps more irritating."-The King's English.

The dash should not be allowed to take the place of other punctuation. Its use does not tend to clear thinking or clear writing. When it has to be resorted to as a means of avoiding ambiguity, the sentence should be rewritten. In the entire Bible there is but one dash (Exodus, xxxii, 32); it is used to denote an interrupted thought.

488. Proper use. The proper use of the dash is to denote hesitancy, sudden change in the thought or construction, or interruption of speech:

1. "It can't

be ", muttered Sydney Carton.

2. She have you seen her, Doctor?

3. No, I was not a shoemaker by trade. I—I learnt it here. I taught myself. I asked leave to

NOTE. A writer sometimes uses the dash to announce to the reader an unexpected or humorous ending to a sentence. This practice is both needless and dangerous; for the unexpected is most effective, and humor, if announced, falls flat unless it satisfies the reader's anticipation. See the quotation at the beginning of this chapter.

The dash is used properly to denote a change of speaker in a dialogue reported in a single paragraph; or to set off the author's name from a quotation: